As you work to complete your long-term fitness goals, it’s important to celebrate the small wins along the way. Breaking down the journey into incremental benchmarks will give you a better sense of your progress and where adjustments need to be made. When you hit your benchmarks, be sure to celebrate to keep your motivation up.
What Do We Mean by Small Wins?
“Small wins” are making incremental progress towards your long-term fitness goals. Hopefully when you set your goal, you used the SMART methodology. In doing so, you would have set a realistic timeline and determined how you will measure your progress. Once you have determined the end goal, you’ll want to set smaller goals along the way. Not only will it seem less daunting to keep your motivation up, this is a great way to ensure you’re staying on track. If you miss a mark, you’ll have to rethink your goal strategy, or work that much harder to make your next one. When you do hit your mark, however, you should celebrate your accomplishments!
How to Celebrate/Reward Yourself
Your celebration or reward is entirely up to you. Celebrating doesn’t have to be anything major either, but you do want to acknowledge that you are making progress. The idea behind the celebration is to motivate yourself to keep up the good work. Here are some suggestions.
Show Off on Social Media
Show off your progress on social media. It’s ok to brag if you’ve reached an important milestone. You should be proud to showcase your progress. Goals come in a shapes and forms, so how you show off will vary. Some examples might include showing a slimmer waistline, flexing your muscles, or a video of your improved tennis technique.
Take a Day Off
While you should periodically be incorporating days of rest in your normal routine, an unscheduled break can be a reward in and of itself. Take a day for yourself. You’ve earned it. Get a massage, relax by the pool, or go take a nap.
Buy Some New Clothes
Buying new threads can be really rewarding. They don’t call it “retail therapy” for nothing! Especially if you’ve put on some muscle or shed a few pounds, some new clothes can do wonders for your self-esteem.
Don’t Go Overboard
If you’re rewarding yourself, obviously you should do it in moderation. For example, if you treat yourself to some sweets, you don’t want to consume a large amount of calories and undo all the hard work you’ve put in.
How do you celebrate your small wins? Let us know in the comments!